Board of trustee District 5 moves on to the runoff election

The Alamo College’s board of trustee election for Districts 5, 6, 7 and 9 resulted in District 5 entering a runoff election.

On May 5, voters of Bexar County re-elected three of four incumbents to serve a another six-year term. Early voting took place April 23-May 1.

In 2018-19, the board will continue focusing on student success, opportunity and graduation rates, District 7 trustee Yvonne Katz said in a May 15 interview.

The re-election of the three incumbents demonstrates the community is pleased with what the board is doing with programs such as Alamo Institutes, the $450 million bond package and the recently appointed chancellor, she said.

Out of the 630,035 voters registered to vote in Bexar County, only 29,174 cast a ballot for a trustee candidate during early voting and on election day.

To win the election, a candidate must receive 50 percent or more of the vote.

The three District 5 candidates each received below 50 percent.

In District 5, Dr. Ramiro Nava, executive director of Somerset Independent School District, received 480 votes; James Hernandez, recipient of a Master of Education degree from the University of Utah, received 1,037 votes; and Roberto Zarate, District 5 incumbent, received 842 votes.

Nava received 20.35 percent; Hernandez received 43.96 percent; and Zarate received 35.69 percent.

Hernandez and Zarate are in a runoff June 16. Early voting will be June 4-12, excluding June 10.

In District 6: Wong received 3,259 votes; and Sprague received 3,981 votes.

Sprague won the election with 54.99 percent of the vote, with Wong receiving 45.01 percent of the vote.

District 7 candidates were retired university Professor David Fischer, who has taught various disciplines at universities, including political science at California State University at Long Beach and environmental studies at University of Waterloo in Canada; and incumbent Katz.

In District 7, Fischer received 1,852 votes or 35.82 percent; and Katz received 3,318 votes or 64.18 percent.